No worries about that. If I do still have the book (and it's just one, I don't remember if it's the eighth or the ninth) it's liable to be in somewhat rough shape though.

I meant to go check if my ordered copy of Smoke and Shadows had arrived at the local bookstore yesterday. But the employee who seemed to be on call in the book section was the same one who was hovering around me and reaching across my line of sight to reorganize magazines in the rack I was standing in front of, so I decided to come back and deal with a non-idiot at a later date.

Megan, I'll check there on the way home and let you know for sure which ones they have tonight.

Thanks much. I will pay all relevant charges etc. =)

For whatever reason, I have a sudden urge to read gothic romances. Creepy manor houses, heroines in flowing nightgowns running down dark hallways, mysterious noises, all that sort of thing. Does anyone have any recommendations for well-written examples of that genre?

Mary Stewart, Nine Coaches Waiting. I assume you've already read Rebecca?

Mary Stewart, Nine Coaches Waiting.

I have not been able to find ANY Mary Stewart books that aren't part of the Hollow Hills series at any of the local used book stores. Deb told me I should read Thornyhold.

I assume you've already read Rebecca?

It will be (as of tonight) the current bath-time reading.

Victoria Holt's Mistress of Mellyn is pretty good. Holt is a blurred photocopy of Stewart, but I like her early stuff.

Oh, gosh, Mary Stewart. Nine Coaches Waiting, Airs Above the Ground, Touch Not the Cat . . .

Madam, Will You Walk suffers a little from "you're troubled and mysterious, I think I love you" itis, but the scene where she's racing the train . . .

I should replace my copies, they're falling apart.

And The Ivy Tree is a wowzer. But Jilli's already said she can't find any Stewart.

And The Ivy Tree is a wowzer. But Jilli's already said she can't find any Stewart.

I sense some time spent on Half.com in my future ...